Latest from Nicholas Deleon

Crytek went to great pains throughout the development of Crysis 2 to stress that it wasn’t going to be a repeat of the first game. You weren’t going to need a monstrous machine merely to get 20 frames per second. No, Crytek said, we’ve managed to get the game running on the Xbox 360! And if the 360 can run it, what can’t run it? Not the Asus Eee 1215B, that’s… Read More

Sometimes humor is the best mechanism to explain an opaque topic. Public Knowledge, a group that concerns itself with defending consumer rights in “the emerging digital culture,” has released a report today entitled “Peak Bandwidth.” Keep in mind today’s date, is all I have to say. The report says that the “era of plentiful, low-cost bandwidth is approaching… Read More

It must be an absolute nightmare being a Hollywood executive in 2011. Four big studios (20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.) have announced plans to introduce a premium video-on-demand service, to debut on DirecTV next month as “Home Premiere,” that will screen movies a mere 60 days after their theatrical debut. Renting such a movie will set you back $30. And if… Read More

Common sense, for once, has prevailed. For whatever reason Boston College was telling its students that using a wireless router could be considered a “common example of copyright infringement.” Word got out, the Internet complained, and now the offending bullet point has been removed. Read More

Perhaps we’re finally moving toward a world where slapping an 8.2 score on a video game will become a thing of the past. Metacritic says it will do away with its plan to list developer ratings. The system had launched last summer but has generated a bit of controversy in recent days as high-profile developers like Cliff Bleszinski (from Epic Games) began to complain. A few more days go… Read More

Time Warner Cable received rare praise these past few weeks with the launch of its iPad app. Not familiar with it? It lets Time Warner Cable subscribers view 32 different TV networks on their iPad provided they’re connected to their home (read: Time Warner-provided) Wi-Fi network. (You can’t watch these channels while at the park and connected to 3G, in other words.) As you… Read More

The very first generation of Google Cloud Print-ready printers have been loaded onto the trucks, and are en route to your local gadget shop. HP calls the technology ePrint, and it’s found on its range of Photosmart, Officejet, and LaserJet Pro printers. Read More

There’s a plan in the UK that would, if enabled, lead to ISPs blocking access to specific Web sites in order to cut down on piracy. It takes all of two seconds to understand why this is a silly idea, and thankfully a prominent consumer rights group there has come out against it. Read More

Google’s about to step up its use of “interest-based advertising.” The company has announced that it will change the way it uses the information that it gathers from your scanned Gmail messages. (Or did you forget that Gmail scans every single one of your messages in order to show relevant advertising?) The big change is this: rather than scanning your email on a… Read More

Yet another example of why even the savviest of Internet users need to keep their anti-malware software current and fully working. Spotify, the popular European streaming service, discovered that it was inadvertently serving ads that were laced with malware. Read More

No, we still have no idea what the Air Force is doing up there with the X-37B, but at least now we can track its movement. Amateur skywatchers—a delightful phrase&mdashl have discovered the whereabouts of the spacecraft. There’s even video of it in orbit. Read More

One day after McAfee warned about the dangers of corporations becoming vulnerable to hackers, we now learn that Nasa has similar concerns. Its inspector general, Paul Martin, has written a report entitled “Security Practices Expose Key Nasa Network To Cyber Attack,” and you can guess what that means. Actually, don’t bother guessing. The report warns that six of… Read More

“Our nanogenerators are poised to change lives in the future. Their potential is only limited by one’s imagination.” Strong, powerful words from Dr. Zhong Lin Wang, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, whose nanogenerators could one day power a whole host of gadgets, from your iPod to your favorite tablet. The idea rests upon zinc oxide nanowires, wires that generate… Read More

President Obama spoke to Univision yesterday at one of those town hall meetings the TV networks like to organize. What’s pertinent to us here is that our president, the man who’s famous for carrying a BlackBerry wherever he goes, does, in fact, own his own computer. Read More

Best Buy is now in the the 4G business. The company has announced that its Best Buy Connect service, which first launched last July, will now support 4G, courtesy of a deal worked out with Clearwire. Access to the 4G network will set you back $45 per month, with Best Buy willing to waive the $35 activation fee if you agree to a two-year contract. Read More

Don’t have a Blu-ray player yet? You’re going to want to get one before June 21, for that’s when Louis CK’s “Louie” makes its way to the format. It’ll also be available on plain ol’ DVD if that’s your thing. Read More

It looks like the Crysis 2 Direct X 11 patch could be coming sooner rather than later. An item on a German PC gaming site—Germany certainly loves its PC gaming&mash;says that the patch should hit the Internets tomorrow. This is most welcome news. Read More